Disclaimer: This post contains spoilers for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. If you do not wish to be spoiled, please feel free to leave the page. This post will still be here once you've seen the film, waiting with bells on for your return (and we do hope you decide to come back!)
Y'all, okay. So, the other night on Twitter I ran across a tweet that said that romantic scenes between Namor and Shuri had been tested with audiences (and ultimately decided against). I made the completely innocent comment that I shipped them up until their conversation in the cave after Shuri's visit to Talokan, at which point Namor kinda killed whatever bud of romantic possibility there was before razing it completely to the ground several scenes later in Wakanda.
And thus a debate happened (which, for the record, I was mainly a bystander to).
I don't really care if you ship Namor and Shuri or not (there's enough subtext that if you wanna finagle it a bit you could have a pretty decent ship... I mean, it isn't like a lot of subtext is needed for a ship to sail in the first place, really. I've shipped Duo and Quatre from Gundam Wing for years, for fuck's sake). Nah, what bothered me about the entire exchange (other than the fact that it probably spawned about three million notifications on my phone because I was too nosey to mute the convo) was that there seemed to be a bit of a misunderstanding about Namor as a character. There was talk about Namor being manipulative and not actually caring about Shuri at all other than as a pawn, and... Nah.
Let's look at this, shall we?
Wakanda Forever's Namor is not a villian (which keeps with his comic book counterpart, from what little of him I've seen... I really need my Marvel Unlimited subscription back). No, he's not a villian, but he is definitely the film's main antagonist. One thing I mentioned in my Review (of sorts) for the film, though, is that I feel they sort of dropped the ball on his motivations, so his aggression sort of loses something in translation. It can make him seem like a hard ball of raging evil, but that's not what Namor is.
Namor is 'round about four hundred and fifty years old. Before he was even born he was placed in a position of power by his people (his mother was promised he would be king, after all), and afterwards? When he was born with traits associated with K’uk’ulkan and an unknown longevity due to his mutation? He is not the Feathered Serpent (nor is he his avatar, y'all...), but he is revered by his people as if he were. As such, it's fairly obvious Namor isn't exactly used to hearing the word 'no'.
One of his defining traits is his arrogance. Namor knows his power and his position and he has an expectancy of being obeyed. To him it is as natural an expectation as the flow of the tides or the rising of the sun. When he waltzed into Wakanda to have his initial conversation with Ramonda, he was not doing it to be malicious or even particularly intimidating (well, maybe a little intimidating). His demand of her and her nation was nothing but matter-of-fact. He doesn't even have anything against Riri herself, rather seeing her execution as a means to the safety and greater good of his people.
But with Namor's arrogance comes a very endearing side-effect: he's not particularly guarded. He's honest and earnest and has a very interesting softness, especially when dealing with his people (note he refers to several Talokanil has 'my child'). Even when he first steps into Wakanda, his openness is obvious. He not only comments in wonder about the pristineness of the air and water, but also relates to Ramonda and Shuri an anecdote about his mother. He also makes no move to hide his intentions regarding the 'American scientist' who created the vibranium detector.
His interactions with Shuri down in Talokan also speak to his sincerity. Here he has Shuri as well as his prize in his domain. He could have taken Riri and imprisoned Shuri, or expelled Shuri, or even just killed Shuri. He did none of these things. Rather he makes the effort to actually attempt to peaceably come to a resolution and convince Shuri of what Riri's death would inevitably protect (granted, this is somewhat shortsighted on Namor's part, but, meh... Dude isn't actually perfect, yo).
It isn't until two of his own are killed by Nakia during her rescue of Shuri and Riri that he even feels the need to bear his fangs. And here he is, feeling betrayed and taking the blame for putting his people at risk because he had the audacity to hope for trust and friendship with airbreathers.
And I still don't think he moved against Wakanda out of anger or malice. He gave them fair warning of what would happen if they did not acquiesce to his demand. To him, if Wakanda was going to prove an enemy, or even not an ally, removing them from the equation made the most strategic sense. His attack on their capital was meant as that, but I do think he's lived a bit too long, seeing as he missed the obvious result of what would happen when he killed Shuri's mother and somehow still expected her to bend. (Silly man.)
Overall, he's just a sort of wet teddy bear. It makes his conversation with Namora at the end rather sad, though. Here he does sound manipulative, talking about using Wakanda's possible issues with the rest of the world being reason for an alliance with Talokan. Words of a man scorned, really, who trusted and was betrayed and finally feels he needs to put up some sort of barrier so as to not be betrayed and hurt again. Never a good place to be for anyone.
Man... Namor chose his name poorly, because I love him entirely too much.
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